White smoke mystery

[alangraham]

I've owned a 1500HL for 12 years and during that red hot weather recently I restarted my engine after I'd been out for a run and a cloud of white smoke shot out and curled upwards from the front grill and some escaped from the sides of the bonnet. I thought I was on fire at first but it only lasted a couple of seconds and disappeared.
I'd thought the starter motor turned over for longer than usual before the engine fired up but that's not unusual when the motor's warm.
After that the car ran fine and has been ever since, with no leaks or fluids on the floor and I'm baffled as to what happened there; it was quite a startling occurence when it did this and I wondered if anyone has any ideas as to the cause.
Alan, N Yorks.

[dollyman]

Have you lost any brake fluid? If so it could be a fault on the servo.

Tony.

[RobSun]

Had exactly the same happen to me in the same conditions trying to fire up a hot engine not wanting start when I was having coil ignition troubles. It was found to be the supply feed to the starter motor over heating due to dirty connections on it and the earth wire. Once all cleaned up and tightened all has been well since.

[alangraham]

Well I haven't lost any brake fluid and I haven't been having any coil ignition problems. But please keep your suggestions coming!
Alan.

[dollyman]

Did you notice any kind of smell?

Tony.

[alangraham]

No , no smell at all. I thought the starter motor was spinning excessively and the engine was taking a long time to fire up but put it down to the exceptional weather conditions (baking hot). I'd covered about 20 miles and had parked and switched off to shift our other car out of the way before putting the Triumph in the garage. Either side of the incident it ran normally and it's never done anything like it before or since. I had a good look round the engine bay tonight; no leaks, nothing obviously different and no drips or puddles on the floor. It's going for its annual service on Monday and I'd already told the garage proprietor what had happened; he couldn't think of any cause immediately and I hoped that I could get a few suggestions from the forum for him to check out. If appropriate I'll print him this thread.
The main clues are perhaps the very hot weather and ehe very white smoke.
Alan

[Graham04]

White smoke tends to be steam. If you have an expansion bottle it might, due to the heat and built up pressure, relieved itself of a small amount of water directly onto the exhaust manifold . It doesn't take much to create an impressive display. It may not appear to have lost anything. Graham

[TrustNo1]

White smoke tends to be steam. If you have an expansion bottle it might, due to the heat and built up pressure, relieved itself of a small amount of water directly onto the exhaust manifold . It doesn't take much to create an impressive display. It may not appear to have lost anything. Graham

I'd be concerned if the expansion bottle let out any steam as it should have a pressurised cap and even more concerned if it sprayed enough water to hit the exhaust on the opposite side of the engine.

[alangraham]

It had crossed my mind whether it could be steam. I'll check the expansion bottle cap. On the 1500 the bottle and exhaust are on the same side.

[marko]

White smoke tends to be steam. If you have an expansion bottle it might, due to the heat and built up pressure, relieved itself of a small amount of water directly onto the exhaust manifold . It doesn't take much to create an impressive display. It may not appear to have lost anything. Graham

I'd be concerned if the expansion bottle let out any steam as it should have a pressurised cap and even more concerned if it sprayed enough water to hit the exhaust on the opposite side of the engine.

1500, the tank is on the same side as the manifolds. Maybe a split in the plastic which opened up and squires some water onto the manifold. Unlikely but who knows with these cars?!? If it was coolant, hopefully you're antifreeze levels are correct, I would have thought you'd have smelt it. From memory it's sweet smelling when exposed to a manifold.
Mark.

[Mahesh]

Don't know much about the 1500 layout, but if a Sprint, the engine coolant drain plug is on the manifold side, I would give it a nip up with a spanner.

[alangraham]

I'm starting to think I'm not going to get to the bottom of this one. No coolant loss has occurred and I've done several more journeys in baking hot weather where I've restarted a hot engine and nothing like it since. In fact the car's never run as well as it does now.
But when it performed this trick there was an enormous amount of white smoke escaping.

[dollyman]

Got it....... The white smoke was from the "gremlin genie" Puff of smoke and all was fixed
Just a thought

Tony.

Ps, If you find his lamp? Let us all know.

[Galileo]

White smoke is something moisture heavy being heated quickly. Ok, so I only spent a day being taught how to be a fire warden so I'm not exactly an expert but the colour of the smoke tells you what is burning and at what stage it's at. If you think of a pile of garden waste, gives off a lot of white smoke as it initially burns but as it dries out the colour changes to a much darker one. How does that fit in with your observations? No idea, just adding colour!

[Mahesh]

Has your windscreen washer bottle emptied out on the manifold ?